Thriller Rough Cut

Feedback:

The feedback I recieved back from our thriller cut was that our shots were steady and that there was a good variety of shots. The editing from the child's POV was effective. Our sound needs improvement because our audience thought that it didn't fit with our film.

Thriller Pitch

Our Company Ident and titles

For our company ident we decided that we wanted something simplistic but effective. Our ident consists of a black box with a spotlight inside it which will be the trade mark of our company. The text is also in a simplistic font with the ‘spotlight’ text bolded because it is the most significant part of our ident. We wanted to keep it simplistic as we found that simplistic silhouette idents are more memorable than more complicated ones.

We were inspired by other idents such as those from The Weinstein Company, Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment. These are all simplistic titles were the first word is bolded or bigger than the second. They’re all accompanied by a symbol that links to their studios in some way. For example, Spyglass Entertainment shows someone holding a spyglass. All these idents are also animated in their actual films so we will animate our ident in some way.

 

•Our film titles will be superimposed throughout our opening so that our titles are clear whilst fitting into the theme of the film. Our title will be shown on a missing poster to further link into the theme of it being a realistic missing poster.

•We have a few title font ideas that we are planning to use in our thriller. For our film title we want it to look as if the title has been written onto the screen by the stalker himself. We’ve picked out 6 fonts that fit our idea.

•Other film titles that have inspired us are Se7en, Shaun of the Dead and Lost. These titles are worn out and damaged and link closely to the themes of their films.

 

Mise-En-Scene

Costume:

 

•Male: The costume the male will wear will consist of dark and black clothing to connote the idea of him being dark and frightening and that he has some sort of authority/show he is the more powerful character.

•He will wear either a black top with either a black coat or sweater/hooded jacket. Alongside black jeans.  Footwear will consist of either black trainers or boots that will be suitable for our setting. In addition, heavy duty boots also create a stereotypical feel of being ‘strong’ and are mainly wore by men who do much labour work e.g. builders who often have a strong physique. 

•Female child: The girls costume will consist of school uniform. We feel this will connote her innocence and immaturity and show her age. It will either be primary uniform or secondary. This will consist of long black/white socks, skirt and polo-shirt/shirt. Her footwear will be a typical school shoe or something durable for the location to prevent injury. Her hair will be tied in either plaits or up in a ponytail with added ribbons. Again, the idea of this style alongside ribbons gives the stereotypical look of a young girl.

 

 

Setting

We chose to use a local wood. This being local makes it easy to get to and not mean we need fees to get there or travel long distances and it is easier to organise. We also felt a wood reflected the atmosphere are our thriller through the way it was isolated and a desolate place. It will help to increase the sense of insecurity as well and will create panic within the audience because they are far away from any type of safety. Woods are also very vast and would therefore strengthen the idea of the girl becoming lost because of this, panicked and in danger. Woods are also places of uncertainty and often given the impression of what is inside and that you never really know what you may find or come across aside from the stalker. There's also a lot of hazards within the woods that could injure the girl or get her caught up and increase the chances of getting caught.

 

•The start of our thriller will involve a dark room because low key lighting is a key convention of thrillers. We decided a garage would be the best place as it is dark and typically has various objects such as tools which connote danger and the idea of it being a man’s area/space and this is where our antagonist will be introduced. It twists the idea of an ordinary, realistic space being somewhere that could hold and create terror. We also will have access to a lot of props within the garage and can create a sense of danger or worry by showing a lot of sharp and deadly objects. A garage would also be easily accessible and easy to organise.

 

Lighting

•We will be using natural low lighting in our thriller opening to add a more realistic effect. We will use a match to highlight images on the mood board which are vital to highlight relevant props that will aid to the storyline and establish what's going on.

Actors:

 

•We will be using a young male and a female child as our two actors. We chose a young girl firstly due to wanting to create the vulnerable and suspicious atmosphere surrounding them both. Using a child tends to make the audience feel on edge and question the narrative more. The young male will pose as a stalker and kidnapper who is after the child. We felt this would create many enigmas and tension about the narrative and relationship between the two.

Props and makeup:

•The girl will have make-up on to create a mucky look and add realism to her running in the outdoors. This will involve either brown make-up or real mud.

 

•The girl may also have cuts or bruises present to show she injured herself either in the wood or allow the audience to question if the antagonist did.

Other props we are going to use will consist of:

•Leather gloves- add to the idea of the antagonist remaining anonymous and in power

•Rope- to show that we will be using this to tie the girl

•Cloth and liquid ‘drug’- to show that we will be using this to ‘drug’ the girl

•Photos- to add background information/clearer narrative

•Possibly a backpack- to go with the idea the girl ahs been to school

•Possibly candle/match- to be used alongside the photos and possibly go with the song of choice.

Genre

•The genre will be a psychological/mystery. The psychological due to one of the main characters appearing to be mentally unstable and the fact it creates many questions and enigmas for the audience about both actors. The mystery is present via tension/build up, the anonymous stalker, why he wants her and if she escapes.

Timeline

Timeline

Location Scouting

•We chose to use a local wood. This being local makes it easy to get to and not mean we need fees to get there or travel long distances and it is easier to organise. We also felt a wood reflected the atmosphere are our thriller through the way it was isolated and a desolate place. It will help to increase the sense of insecurity as well and will create panic within the audience because they are far away from any type of safety. Woods are also very vast and would therefore strengthen the idea of the girl becoming lost because of this, panicked and in danger. Woods are also places of uncertainty and often given the impression of what is inside and that you never really know what you may find or come across aside from the stalker. There's also a lot of hazards within the woods that could injure the girl or get her caught up and increase the chances of getting caught.

 

 

•The start of our thriller will involve a dark room because low key lighting is a key convention of thrillers. We decided a garage would be the best place as it is dark and typically has various objects such as tools which connote danger and the idea of it being a man’s area/space and this is where our antagonist will be introduced. It twists the idea of an ordinary, realistic space being somewhere that could hold and create terror. We also will have access to a lot of props within the garage and can create a sense of danger or worry by showing a lot of sharp and deadly objects. A garage would also be easily accessible and easy to organise.

 

 

Font Ideas



For our title we wanted a hand drawn/faded looking text to add to idea that the title of the film has been hand drawn by the stalker himself. This will add to the suspense of the film and the disturbing atmosphere.

When we searched for fonts we took 6 font examples of our title to give us a variety. To help us decide which font to use for our title, we created a public poll and asked members of our class to answer the poll and choose which font they liked the best. Our results showed that PW Scratchy was the most popular font with 99% LineScratch coming in second.

We've decided to use PW Sratchy for our title because we felt that it would be most appropriate and fitting to our aim for the titles and the plot. We also really liked 99% LineScratch however we found that a lot of the letters were difficult to read and it would be harder to apply to a wide variety of different backgrounds because it isn't bold or clear enough. So PW Scratchy is most appropriate because it is practical as well and can be applied to anything.

The results of our poll were as followed:

Sound Ideas

• •During our opening, to make it different from other film openings, we have decided to create a montage sequence in which we will use voices to add help develop contextual information. For example we will use the voice of a mother ringing the police to report her child missing or a police man talking about the case at a police conference.

• •We took inspiration from the  2013 video game, The Last of Us. The setting of the story takes place in a post apocalyptic world which is riddled with people who caught a virus and pretty much turned them into zombies. The story of the outbreak of the virus, who its affected and how people have responded are mentioned throughout the opening through a montage of voices. Some sound like news reports whilst others sound like public interviews. It helps to add context to the game and helps the player understand where in the story they’re being thrown into.

• •We want to use this idea with our thriller opening so that people can understand what is going on, but also to create more enigmas. We also think it will make our thriller stand out from other stalker thrillers. Aside from the voice over montage, we will also be using a non-copyrighted track beneath the voices to help create more atmosphere within the sequence.

• The Last of Us opening title is our main source of inspiration.

 

Concept and Target Audience

 

Concept:

 

•We plan on creating an opening to a thriller with a duel narrative that link and join together at the end of the opening sequence. Our thriller can arguably be compared to the mystery thriller, ‘Silence of the lambs’, as there is a common theme of two main characters isolated that remain the key focus throughout.

•One narrative will follow a stalker and him collecting items and images of a young girl. We will also hit that he may be preparing to capture her e.g. putting on gloves and collecting rope. It will contain a scene in which the preparations of an unknown antagonist are made to abduct a child. The main sequence will also include the ‘chase scene’ and the enigmas that surround both the characters and the setting. The second narrative will follow the young girl walking home through woods. The narratives will then come together and as the girl is walking through the woods you will see the stalker following her and eventual catching up with her and capturing her.

•We will then cut to a missing poster of the girl and this will be where the title of the film is included as we plan to call it missing.

•Foreboding camera shots as well as a purposefully tense soundtrack are also key features we will be hoping to replicate in our thriller opening.

•Our Unique Selling Point (USP), is going to be our ability to showcase a varied and ranged shot selection, which we hope will allow our thriller opening to be of the highest quality. Enigmas will be crucial in our production in order to suitably match the thriller sub-genre, mystery.

Target Audience:

 

•Target age: Between 15-30

•Gender: Both genders as conventions appeal to both and this allows a wider choice of audience to appeal to.

•Background: Average/normal, enjoy family time and have time for leisurely activities such as watching films or telly, going to the cinema or pub.

•Interests: Film and television and other media and film items. They will be interested in relaxing and unwinding which will leave time to watch television. Enjoy socialising and hanging out with Friends due to their young age and wanting to be social.

•Enjoy thriller games or thriller T.V. shows such as The Last of Us, Orphan Black or The Walking Dead.

•Demo: particularly pointed at to C2, D and E, we feel this as this consist of younger people, our targeted age group, and consists of part-timers which allows room for leisure time.

•Psycho: Targeted at explorers due it typically being young people and commonly students. Attracted to adventure, experience and energy which is what you would find in a thriller. They are also the first to try new things, our thriller would be new which would also attract them and make them want to watch.